COLLABORATIVE RESEARCH: Investigating the link between modern spring activity and associated paleospring mounds in Death Valley, NP

合作研究：调查现代春季活动与北卡罗来纳州死亡谷相关古泉丘之间的联系

• 批准号: 2038377
• 负责人: Laura Rademacher
• 金额: $ 15.21万
• 依托单位: University of the Pacific
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2021
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2021-07-01 至 2024-06-30
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2038377&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: COLLABORATIVE; RESEARCH; Investigating; link; between

In the coming decades, climate change is projected to reduce water availability in dryland regions and the already water-stressed regions of the southwestern United States. In order to implement sustainable water resource policies, a thorough understanding of regional climate history is essential. The PIs will investigate previously undescribed terrestrial limestone rocks that form from spring activity (travertine) from Keane Wonder Spring (KWST), Death Valley, National Park to reconstruct the timing of past wet events. In addition to their potential as past recorders of the regions’ hydroclimate, travertine deposits serve to better understand how microbial communities that inhabit the spring water and associated sediment become part of the fossil record, thus informing the interpretation of the earliest records of life on Earth. Results from this research will help elucidate past changes in the regions’ hydroclimate and help inform our understanding of the pathways that govern microbial fossilization. This study will support three early to mid-career faculty, two graduate students and five undergraduate students at three institutions (two of which are minority-serving institutions). Training for students and class field trips will provide unique research opportunities for undergraduates including field surveys and lab processing methods. Recent work summarizing global trends in travertine deposits indicates that peaks in deposition correspond with local times of high precipitation or wet conditions. Travertine deposits are common in Death Valley, but their reliability as hydroclimate archives has not been fully vetted across multiple climate transitions and necessitates comparison with well-calibrated, proximal hydroclimate records. In addition to their paleoclimate archive potential, travertine deposits are sensitive recorders of interactions between microbial communities and their environment, making travertine a target setting to assess the morphology and function of fossilized microorganisms. The PIs will use a suite of geochemical and microbiological analyses of modern spring water and associated modern travertine growth along distinct facies types of a spring flow transect to reveal the extent to which active travertine accretion records and preserves microbiological, geochemical, and hydrologic signatures. The PIs will analyze Quaternary travertine deposits at KWST and use a suite of geochemical and geochronological analyses to establish the timing of hydroclimatic changes in the region.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.

在未来几十年中，气候变化预计将减少美国西南部干旱地区和已经缺水地区的水供应。为了实施可持续的水资源政策，深入了解区域气候历史是必不可少的。PI将调查以前未描述的陆地石灰岩，这些石灰岩是由国家公园死亡谷基恩奇迹泉（KWST）的泉水活动（石灰岩）形成的，以重建过去潮湿事件的时间。除了作为该地区水文气候过去记录者的潜力外，古生物沉积物还有助于更好地了解栖息在泉水和相关沉积物中的微生物群落如何成为化石记录的一部分，从而为解释地球上最早的生命记录提供信息。这项研究的结果将有助于阐明该地区过去的水文气候变化，并有助于我们了解控制微生物繁殖的途径。这项研究将支持三所机构（其中两所是为少数族裔服务的机构）的三名职业早期至中期教师、两名研究生和五名本科生。学生培训和班级实地考察将为本科生提供独特的研究机会，包括实地调查和实验室处理方法。 最近的工作总结了全球汞矿床的趋势，表明沉积高峰与当地的高降水或潮湿条件相对应。石灰华矿床在死亡谷很常见，但其作为水文气候档案的可靠性尚未在多个气候转变中得到充分审查，需要与校准良好的近端水文气候记录进行比较。除了它们的古气候档案潜力，古生物学沉积物是微生物群落与其环境之间相互作用的敏感记录者，使古生物学沉积物成为评估古生物学微生物形态和功能的目标。PI将使用一套现代泉水的地球化学和微生物分析，并沿泉水断面的不同相类型沿着相关的现代古生物增长，以揭示活跃古生物增长记录和保存微生物、地球化学和水文特征的程度。PI将分析KWST的第四纪沉积物，并使用一套地球化学和地质年代学分析来确定该地区水文气候变化的时间。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。